Fading Miracles
by PsychoRien
Summary: The world is cruel. It can give you miracles… And take them away. Rated T just to be safe, though it may be K. One-shot


_**Tell me, please tell me,**_

_**how this all works…**_

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><p>Luffy opened his eyes and yawned, stretching out his limbs, feeling the rough brick behind him. He shivered and started rubbing his arms with his hands. It was cold. Freezing. Dark clouds polluted the sky. He brought his hands up to his mouth and breathed into them. He stood up, rubbing his hands together. The child started walking down the crowded streets, passing by like a nobody. White, fluffy dots started descending from the clouds, tickling his skin. He really wished his had a coat, or a jacket. Some kind of warm clothing. Anything was better than a tattered t-shirt and shorts at this point. He crossed the street to the park. The trees and bushes were bare and looked brittle. Brown leaves scattered the wood chip ground, spilling over into the sidewalk. Luffy breathed into his hands as his eyes darted from park bench to park bench. The people around usually dropped change somewhere. If he gathered enough, he could probably get a scarf from the store. The new store owner wasn't very nice to him. Makino had passed away from a car accident. She would invited him inside and make him some hot chocolate. She was going to adopt him before she died. She just had to go to the orphanage and fill out the papers. The only thing that he had left of her was a red scarf that the mean kids at the park destroyed. A strong gust of wind pushed Luffy out of his thoughts and string around his neck tugged and the straw hat that was hanging on his neck broke away. Luffy whipped around and tried jumping up to get it, but the hat was too high in the air. The hat suddenly stop flying away and was caught by a hand. Luffy bumped into something and stumbled back a few steps. Luffy looked up and his eyes met with another man's. The man was tall. Well taller than him. He wore a black sports jacket and grey pants. A scarf was wrapped around his neck. His face was plastered with freckles. He was probably around 19 or 20 by the looks of it. The man looked down at him with light hearted eyes.<p>

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><p><em><strong>Just who is it,<strong>_

_**Who is it that lies inside of me?**_

_**I'm broken, broken in the midst of this world**_

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><p>"Is this yours?" He asked. Luffy stared a bit before giving a hesitant nod. The man lower the hat onto Luffy's head.<p>

"There. You should be more carefully with your belongings." Luffy brought his hand to the rim of his hat and pulle it down. "Where're your parents? You shouldn't be out here in summer clothes." Luffy bit the inside of his cheek.

"I'm alone."

The man's eyes softened and he kneeled down front of Luffy, meeting eyes. He pulled down his scarf and wrapped it around the child's neck. "Do you want to come home with me? It's warm there. I can give you some food." Luffy gave the man a neutral look before dipping his head. The man patted him on the head and the corners of his lips turned up.

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><p><em><strong>But you're smiling, blind to it all.<strong>_

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><p>"I'm Ace, by the way." The man said, warming up some hot chocolate on the stove with a small pot. Luffy sat at the counter with a blanket wrapped around him, a mug wrapped in his palms.<p>

"I'm Luffy…" Luffy replied. Ace removed the pot from the stove and turned it off. He turned around and poured the liquid into Luffy's mug. The heat felt good against his white hands.

"Careful, okay? It's really hot." Ace poured some hot chocolate into his own mug and blew on it. Luffy observed his gesture and blew on his hot chocolate before taking a sip.

"So, you're an orphan." Ace finally spoke. Luffy nodded…

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><p><em><strong>I'm just so damaged, so I halt my breath<strong>_

_**Not even the truth can unravel me.**_

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><p>"I'm going to adopt you." Ace declared. Luffy stared at him.<p>

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><p><em><strong>Freeze.<strong>_

_**Breakable.**_

_**Unbreakable.**_

_**Shakeable.**_

_**Unshakeable.**_

_**When I found you, it shook me.**_

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><p>"Why?"<p>

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><p><em><strong>I'm standing here in a sick, twisted world,<strong>_

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><p>"You have no where to go, right? And you've grown on me. I like you." Ace winked. Luffy stared at him, his mouth slightly a gap. This man had only been talking to him for a few minutes and now wanted to adopt him. Either he was hearing things or this man was plain stupid. "I don't have anyone either."<p>

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><p>"What's this thing?" Luffy asked, looking at a small box thing and the rectangle object next to it.<p>

"That's a cassette tape." Ace replied, pointing at the rectangle object. "This box is a cassette player." Ace picked up the cassette player and cassette. "They're pretty olden time compared to the technology today but I always loved using them." He opened the cassette player and placed the cassette inside, closing the player again. "This one doesn't have anything recorded in it. If you press this button you can record." Ace pressed the button down and the tape inside started spinning.

Luffy stared at the machine in wonder before saying, "Ace is an idiot!"

"Hey!" Ace flicked Luffy on the forehead. Luffy started giggling and Ace stopped the tape.

"Replay it!" Luffy grinned. Ace pouted and replayed the tape.

… "_Ace is an idiot!"_

"_Hey!"_

"_Shishishishishi!"_

Luffy giggled some more. "I like it."

"You can have it if you want."

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><p><em><strong>I'm gradually growing transparent and vanishing<strong>_

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><p><em>A car came speeding his way and the world went black.<em>

Luffy's eyes shot open and he gasped for air. He turned his head to see Ace lying next to him, sleeping without a care in the world. Luffy sighed and loosened his tense neck. He wished he could sleep as carefreely as Ace. He rolled over onto his side and scooted closer to the man's frame, feeling much safer. Maybe he could gets some more sleep before morning. He snuggled his head next to Ace's arm and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>"What're you doing?" Ace popped up behind Luffy, which almost made the younger boy crawl out of his skin. Luffy covered the wrapping paper and the stuff under it with his arms.<p>

"It's a secret." Luffy puffed his cheeks out. "It's for Christmas. It's coming soon, right? I'm going to give you something.

"Aww. That's sweet, squirt." Ace placed a hand on Luffy's head.

"I'm not a squirt!" Luffy complained.

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><p><em><strong>Please don't look for me; don't look at me<strong>_

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><p>"Ugh. Traffic is such a drag." Ace muttered, leaning his head against the steering wheel. Luffy sat in the other seat playing with the end of his jacket.<p>

"Are all these people looking for a Christmas tree?" Luffy asked, staring at the long line of cars in front of them.

"I not all of them. A lot though. This is what happens when you go last minute shopping." Ace groaned and took his hands off the wheel. Luffy started humming Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and the ends of Ace's lips twitched upwards and he join along.

"I'm bored." Luffy stretched his limbs out. The line of cars wasn't going anywhere. Curses that they were at the end too. Ace gained a devilish smirk and started tickling the youth mercilessly. Luffy laughed hysterically as he tried to pry Ace's evil hands off of him. They never heard the car that was speeding their way over all the noise they were making in the vehicle.

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><p><em><strong>I don't wish to hurt you in a world<strong>_

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><p>"I'm sorry , but the child died as soon as we got him out of the car."<p>

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><p><em><strong>in a world that someone else imagined<strong>_

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><p>Ace walked down the sidewalk of the bridge with his crutches. Snow was lightly falling and the river below was frozen. No one else was walking down the sidewalk and no cars passed by. Ace sighed and sat down on the cold cement, placing his crutches next to him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small, messily wrapped rectangular box that had a tag stuck on it.<p>

_To Ace_

_From Luffy_

Ace stared at the box emotionlessly for a few seconds before carefully unwrapping the gift. Stuffing the paper wrapping into his pocket, he held the object in his hands. A cassette player with a tape inside. Ace's throat tightened and he turned the player over, pressing the play button.

"_Merry Christmas, Ace!"_ The voice in the tape cheered. A watery film covered Ace's eyes, messing with his vision. "_This is my first Christmas with someone that I care about! Actually, this is my first Christmas in my life! I'm really happy I get to spend it with you!"_ Ace tucked his head between his chest and his knees and his arms hugged his knees closer to his as he listened to the recording. "_I hope you like your present! I love you and see you as a brother. A dad, even! I just want you to know that. I'm glad I have a someone like you to be there for me. I want to spend the entire day with you. We can play games or watch TV or maybe even go sledding! I really like sledding. The hill at the park is really big and fun!"_ A tear fell from his eyes and onto his pants. His bottom lip trembled and he clutched the player tighter in his hands. "_How about I sing something for you? Let me think of a song… Ooh! I know! Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, had a very shiny nose~ And if you ever saw him you would eve say it glows…" _Sobs started escaping Ace's mouth and the tears wouldn't stop. He wanted to scream and yell and just break down at the same time. He wanted to stop the tape, but didn't want to at the same time. He just wanted to hear Luffy's voice just this once. One more time. "_Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say~ Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight~ Then all the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee~ Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, you'll go down in history~!"_

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><p><em><strong>So, please just remember me<strong>_

_**as vivid as I used to be.**_

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><p><em>The world is cruel. It can give you miracles…<em>

_And take them away._

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this and hope you have a very Merry Christmas!<strong>

**-Riena**

**(The song is Unravel by TK)**


End file.
